What I Think About When I Think About Art

What Art Is For

Kurt Elling is one of my favorite jazz singers. His singing is simple and unadorned. In an interview online he had this to say about his goal as an artist:

“I want people to be surprised, to be moved, to laugh, to remember something important they may have forgotten.”

I love that last point. Sometimes I have an inexplicably positive reaction to art and I think that’s what’s happening. I’m remembering something important, whether I can bring it to conscious thought or not.